Center for Public Service Hosts Engage Expo to Encourage Student Participation
A file photo from a previous CPS Immersion Project
By Jessica Greenman, Contributing Writer
Last Wednesday night, charitable Gettysburgians gathered in the Jaeger Center lobby for the Engage Expo, an annual event in which new students can learn about various community service opportunities on campus as well as this year’s Immersion Projects.
The returning students were eager to share their passion for serving the Gettysburg community, representing organizations that aid local children, seniors, migrant families and more. Annette Aguilera-Gonzales ’18, Program Coordinator of 21st Century Pasos, a migrant education program for local middle and high school students, was excited to bring in new members. “This program is really what you make of it,” she said. “If you are passionate about education, it is very empowering to be able to provide that.”
Also present were representatives for nine upcoming Immersion Projects. These one to two week trips will travel to locations around the United States and the world during Winter Break, Spring Break, and at the conclusion of the semester in May. Domestic destinations include Washington, D.C., Kentucky, and Little Rock, Arkansas. Students wishing to join an international Immersion Project may choose from Rwanda, two different destinations in Nicaragua, Morocco, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
One trip, “Immigration on the U.S./Mexico Border,” will travel throughout the American southwest and to Mexico. Mary Beth Bielicki, senior and trip leader of the U.S./Mexico Immersion Project, hopes that participants would gain a greater understanding of how immigration and borders had evolved in recent history.
The application deadline for the Little Rock, AR Project, conducted through the Eisenhower Institute, is September 15. The deadline for all other Winter Break Immersion Projects is September 22.
